We spoke with four people who were receiving a domiciliary care service. In general they were happy with the service they received and all of the people we spoke with knew who they could contact if they had any complaints or concerns. One of the people we spoke with said that he had a visit from one care worker who he didn't like. He reported this and didn't get that person again. One of the people we spoke with said that her regular carers are excellent and maintain her dignity when providing personal care. One person told us that she didn't always know which care worker would be visiting her because a 'client visit sheet' was not always sent out due to the office staff being too busy. It is important for her to know who is coming because she lives on her own.
People said that a senior member of staff had visited to ask if they were satisfied with the service but they were not sure that this happened on a regular basis.
We looked at correspondence that had been sent to the agency by people who had received a reablement service during March 2012. One person wrote:
'Your staff are a credit to you, all lovely ladies but I want to commend one to you in particular. J has been coming to my mother most days over the last month. She is gentle and caring, pleasant and kind, yet is always aware of my mother's needs and wishes. Mum looked forward to her visits and has improved in confidence and physical ability under J's care.'
And another:
'I'd like to say thank you for the excellent service you and your team provided for me during my recent incapacity. Your nurses were lovely, kind and so helpful and I could not have managed without them each morning.'
An Assessment Reablement Officer from Wirral Council told us:
'I have always found them to be helpful and professional. They have always done their best to accommodate my requests in a timely fashion and are very approachable. Feed-back from service users has always been very positive. Availability has been an issue at times due to excessive demands in certain areas. This has then meant a longer wait for services to start.'
Another Reablement Officer commented:
'The main problem that we have with the agency is the availability to take on new clients. Housing 21 do not seem to be able to retain staff so this has a big impact on the service as we do have to commission short term packages of care instead of being able to reable service users.
The enablers that currently work for housing 21 are generally very good so there are no real concerns as to the standard of work that they carry out and this also applies to the office staff who coordinate the programmes.'